When Samuel Whitbread started his brewing business in London in 1742, having left his Bedfordshire home at 14, he could have little idea what the firm would look like 250 years later. It is a fantastic example of a company that has continued to diversify and develop a strategy to meet the needs of its customer base.
Whitbread initially set up in partnership with Thomas Shewell in 1742, investing £2,600 in two of Shewell’s small breweries, the Goat Brew House (where porter was produced) and a brewery in Brick Lane (used to produce pale and amber beers). Demand for the strong, black porter meant the business had to move to larger premises in Chiswell Street in 1750. By 1760, it had become the second-largest brewery in London (producing almost 64,000 barrels annually). Five years later Whitbread bought out Shewell for £30,000. By the end of the century, Whitbread’s business was London’s biggest producer of beer, producing 202,000 barrels in 1796.
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